Discount Window & Payment System Risk Contact Information for Chicago
7th District (Chicago) Seasonal Credit Program
Please note: the information on this page is only for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Seasonal Credit Program. Information about your Federal Reserve Bank's Seasonal Credit Program may be available on your Federal Reserve Bank's 'Contacts & Resources' page.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- General Requirements
- Reporting Requirements
- Completing an Application
- Seasonal Credit Rate
- How to Contact Us
Introduction
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Discount Window is accepting applications for the Seasonal Credit Program. Under the program, your institution may obtain longer-term credit, up to nine months in duration, to satisfy the cyclical credit needs resulting from the deposit and borrowing activities of your customers. The program is available to qualifying depository institutions with less than $500 million in deposits, and that have a demonstrated cyclical funding need that persists for at least four weeks. Smaller institutions that experience fluctuations in deposits and loans—caused by construction, college, farming, resort, municipal financing and other seasonal types of business—frequently qualify for the program.
Under the Seasonal Credit Program, there are no commitment fees, stock purchase requirements or other expenses or penalties involved in setting up and maintaining a line of credit.
Credit may be drawn down incrementally as needed; both partial and full prepayments are allowed without penalty. If the line is unused during the year, there is no cost involved.
General Requirements
To qualify for the program, an institution must meet the following requirements:
- Loans and deposit information must confirm that the credit need is cyclical.
- The credit need must persist for at least four weeks and not extend beyond nine months.
- Institutions are expected to meet a portion of their seasonal funding from existing liquidity resources. We apply a graduated deductible, based on an institution's deposit size, to all eligible line amounts.
- Institutions must complete, or have on file with us, borrowing documentation. Required Agreements can be found under the Agreements tab. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago instructions to complete agreements can be found on the Chicago Contact Information page.
Reporting Requirements
Institutions are not permitted to use the program to increase sales of federal funds or to purchase other assets. However, net sales of federal funds are appropriate, as long as they are consistent with the institution's normal operating pattern. When borrowing under the seasonal program, institutions must submit weekly data Form FR2046; on deposits, loans, securities and federal funds balances to the Reserve Bank.
Completing an Application
To participate in the program, an institution must complete an application worksheet and provide:
- A description of cyclical factors, including detailed information about local or regional agricultural, economic, or industry-specific problems that affect liquidity.
- The projected amount of Federal Reserve credit needed each month.
- Month-end total loan and deposit data for the previous three calendar years. If you participated in our program last year, please provide most recent calendar data only
- Total securities plus federal funds purchased and sold data for the previous calendar year.
Once the application worksheet is completed, please email the worksheet and any additional letters to the loans email address. Loans personnel will send a confirmation email after receipt. After processing the data, loans personnel will contact you via email or phone regarding the amount and duration of the eligible seasonal line. A response from your institution is required before approval of the line or if any additional information is needed.
Advances under the seasonal line are available daily and are due on the first business day of the next month.
Seasonal Rate
A flexible, market-based interest rate is applied on all seasonal credit. The rate is set biweekly and applies to all outstanding seasonal loans. The rate is reset on the first day of each reserve maintenance period (every other Thursday).
How to Contact Us
For additional information on seasonal credit or any other credit program, please contact the loans team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
E-mail Address:
loanschicago.chi@chi.frb.org
Mailing Address:
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Attn: Loans Department
230 S. LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone Numbers:
Toll Free:
(800) 380-3762